The top two leading causes of death in the U. S continues to be heart disease and cancer. Although heart disease and cancer does have some genetic causality most individuals can prevent these two conditions from occurring.

In 2014, cardiologist Dr. Malhotra completed a study in which proved that saturated fat and cholesterol is not the main cause of heart disease as once thought. His study concluded that the culprit is really sugar. This makes sense because when fat was reduced in foods the food industry adds sugar to these products so it can taste better. When this occurred the cardiovascular risks increased causing more people to get heart disease. To take the study even further it should be noted that since sugar causes inflammation in the body. This inflammation is one of the causes heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, and obesity.

So what can you do to prevent many of these conditions? Reduce your sugar/sweetener intake!! Do not be fooled by food labels that say sugar-free. Many of these products use ingredients such as sucralose, acesulfame potassium, and aspartame. These artificial sweeteners can still cause cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other conditions. A popular sweetener is high fructose corn syrup which can be found in many things such as processed meats such as sausage, salad dressings, and other processed foods.

Thus before you pick out the item that says reduce fat or fat free check the label and make an informed decision.

Reference:

Saturated fat is not the major issue BMJ2014; 348doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g3332(Published 15 May 2014)Cite this as: BMJ 2014;348:g3332

Comments are closed.

Author

Alpharetta Chiropractor, Dr. Bates takes care of patients with many health issues. Her goal is to allow you to have the best quality of life possible.